


Secret Ingredient

by seibelsays



Series: Cookies ‘Verse [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 17:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14501625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays
Summary: Bucky finds a home with Team Science!





	Secret Ingredient

**Author's Note:**

> As always, any and all mistakes are mine. <3

“Come. On. You. Stupid. Piece. Of. Junk!” Jane wheezed, each word punctuated by a whack with a mallet. She’d been trying to get the stabilizing arm of her tertiary satellite array back into position for the last half hour, but the storm the previous evening had really made a mess of things.

Bucky and Darcy walked in mid-rant, lunch in hand. Darcy raised an eyebrow, but had witnessed similar scenes enough times to be relatively unphased by her friend’s outburst. She passed Jane without a word and began to clear off the work table so she could unpack lunch.

Bucky was a relatively new addition to the lab, however.

He stopped in front of Jane and held out his hand without a word. It took a moment, but once she noticed him, she handed over the mallet. 

“The arm just needs to-“

Bucky wrenched the arm back into place with one thrust of his left hand.

Jane blinked. 

Bucky smiled and nodded at her, then moved to help Darcy.

“We’re keeping him!” Jane yelled to Darcy.

“I intend to,” Darcy replied with a smile.

***

Bucky highlighted another passage in the journal and scribbled down another note in his notebook. He was thankful Stark bought multiple copies of any scientific journal they wanted, because he’s sure absolutely no one is going to want to use this copy ever again with the way he’s mangled it, trying to understand Jane and Darcy’s work.

“Bucky?” Darcy’s sleepy rasp came from the hall. “What are you still doing up?”

“Reading,” he replied, and shoved his notebook full of questions under the journal. If Darcy knew just how much he didn’t understand, she might try to keep him from tagging along to the lab.

She shuffled up behind him, making plenty of noise before gently trailing one hand over his shoulders and slowly wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. She was always so careful to make a lot of noise when approaching him when she wasn’t in his direct eyeline and he loved her for it.

“Holy highlighter,” she chuckled. “I’ve taught you some bad habits.”

Bucky hummed but didn’t reply. 

“May I?” she reached for the journal, but didn’t pick it up. “I left my glasses on the nightstand.”

Bucky nodded and she picked it up and held it close to her face.

“I don’t know this one. This come in today?”

“Yeah.”

“Overachiever,” she teased. “What’s this?” she asked setting aside the journal and motioning to his notebook.

“Nothing, just...just things I wanted to look up further.”

“Oh yeah? Like what? I might know of some good sources for you.”

Bucky sighed and handed her the notebook.

Darcy straightened as she pulled the notebook closer so she could read it, keeping one hand at his neck playing with his hair.

“Buck...what is all this?”

He sighed again. “I didn’t understand some of it,” he muttered. “So I was going to look into it further. I can do it!” he rushed. “I just need another day or two and I’m sure it’ll all make sense.”

“No, Bucky, it probably won’t.” 

Well that stung. Darcy was always blunt, but this hurt. He enjoyed working with her and Jane and if she didn’t think he could understand the latest-

“This guy is a hack and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. No wonder you’re confused. How the hell did this even get published?” She flipped to the journal cover and snorted. “That explains a lot. These idiots have been trying to discredit Jane for years. We’ll show all this to Jane in the morning, but I do believe you’ve just found the key to taking out these condescending bastards once and for all.”

“What.”

Darcy chuckled. “Come here, my inadvertent genius.” She pulled him in for a kiss. “You need to follow up all that theory with some hands on work.” She grabbed his hand and led him happily back to their bedroom.

***

“Jane, you’ve been at it for 15 hours now. It’ll make more sense in the morning, when you can come at it with a fresh head.”

“This isn’t sleep deprivation, Darcy - absolutely none of these numbers make any sense at all!”

“And I’m telling you, you’ll be able to puzzle it out faster once you’ve gotten some sleep. Don’t make me call in the muscle.” 

“Just a few more - hey!”

Bucky walked over to the whiteboard Jane was staring at and pulled down the star chart. He stared at it for second, glanced at Jane, flipped the chart right side up, then replaced it on the board.

Jane and Darcy stared at him. Darcy recovered first.

“Bed. Both of you. Now.”

“Yeah, maybe just a few hours…” Jane trailed off and trudged out of the lab.

“Why am I being sent to bed?” Bucky asked.

“Oh. You’re not.” Darcy launched herself at him. “You’re taking me to bed.”

***

Jane handed Bucky a large package, wrapped in brown craft paper.

“What's this?”

“Open it!”

He raised an eyebrow at her happy expression, but did as she asked. He carefully picked open the corners of the paper, releasing the tape, and pulled away the paper. It fell to the floor as he considered the gift he held in his hands.

It was a framed copy of a scientific paper.

“It’s the first paper you’re credited in, Bucky. It’s a big deal. For us science types,” Jane smiled.

Bucky stared at it, an unreadable expression on his face.

“I did the same for Darcy, the first paper she was credited in.” Jane motioned towards Darcy’s desk. “It’s hung over every desk she’s had ever since.” Jane turned back to the table and picked up a hammer and nail that were waiting. “I thought, maybe you’d like to do the same?” 

Bucky swallowed hard then set the frame gently down on the table and wrapped Jane up in a giant bear hug.

“Thank you.”


End file.
